Computer Analysis and Qualitative Research by Nigel G. Fielding

Book Description

The use of computers in qualitative research has redefined the way social researchers handle qualitative data. Two leading researchers in the field have written this lucid and accessible text on the principal approaches in qualitative research and show how the leading computer programs are used in computer-assisted qualitative data analysis (CAQDAS). The authors examine the advantages and disadvantages of computer use, the impact of research resources and the research environment on the research process, and the status of qualitative research. They provide a framework for developing the craft and practice of CAQDAS and conclude by examining the latest techniques and their implications for the evolution of qualitative research.

Interviewing has a strong claim to be the most widely-practised social science research method.' Interviewing II' will follow the successful set on' Interviewing' with a second collection of classic articles from the journal literature on interview methodology.

An assessment of developments in the use of computers in qualitative research, an increasingly important area of interest for social scientists and graduate students. The contributors consider whether systematic and formal techniques will change the nature of qualitative research.

Author Biography - Nigel G. Fielding

"My research interests are in criminology, socio-legal studies, social research methodology, and new technologies for social research. In criminology I have particular expertise in policing, having conducted studies of police training, police occupational culture, community and neighbourhood policing, equal opportunities in the police service, police corruption, and comparative research on international police systems. In socio-legal studies I have particular interests in the criminal courts and the experiences of lay people during the criminal trial process. My study of lay participants' experience of trials of cases of physical violence won the Socio-Legal Studies Association Hart Prize 2007 for the Best Socio-Legal Book. In social research methodology my primary expertise is in qualitative methods, particularly the practice and ethics of participant observation, the status of interview data, and software for the analysis of qualitative data, in which latter I co-direct the UK national centre for qualitative software. I also have substantial expertise in multiple-method research and methodological 'triangulation', secondary analysis of archival qualitative data, online research methods, and the application of grid and high performance computing to social research, where I have a particular interest in the use of Access Grid technology for 'virtual fieldwork'. My paper on the latter was shortlisted for the Sage Prize for Innovation and Excellence 2007. My research has been sponsored by, inter alia, the Economic and Social Research Council, the Fulbright Commission, the US Department of Defense, the Home Office, the UK Police Foundation, the US Police Foundation, Surrey Police Authority, Surrey Police, the Metropolitan Police, the Swiss Information and Documentation Service, the Deutsche Zentral Archiv, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Thales plc, Electricite de France, Volkswagen Stiftung, and the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft" Raymond M Lee is Lecturer in Social Research Methods, Department of Social Policy and Social Science, Royal Holloway and Bedford New College, University of London. His own research interests encompass a number of 'sensitive' topics, including Catholic-Protestant intermarriage in Northern Ireland and the operation of the underground economy. He is the joint editor of Researching Sensitive Topics (Renzetti and Lee, eds, SAGE 1992) and Using Computers in Qualitative Research (Fielding and Lee, eds, SAGE 1991).

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